Who's crystal clear and who's all wet when it to comes to Minnesota weather forecasters?

Friday, July 15, 2011

File Under: Things That Don't Seem Logical

Here is a depiction of the latest heat watches and warnings. The red-shaded areas represent Excessive Heat Warnings; the lighter-colored shading represents Excessive Heat Watches. It makes some sense that the always-cooking urban core could be under a warning when surrounding areas are under watches. But what makes less sense to us is why there would be a warning for two counties (one in Minnesota, one in Wisconsin) that are midway between the Twin Cities in Duluth. Is the heat really expected to arrive in such an unusual arc pattern? Or is the thinking that the two counties didn't receive much rain today and thus will heat up faster? Hmm.... Professional meteorologists, what can you tell us?

Yes, the overnight forecasting shift at MPX upgraded the watch to a warning.

"DEW POINTS IN THE LOW TO MID 70S COMBINED WITH TEMPERATURESSOARING INTO THE LOW TO MID 90S HAS PROMPTED UPGRADE FROM HEAT WATCH TO WARNING OVER MOST OF MN AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY. WESTERN TIER OF WEST CENTRAL WI FALLS UNDER HEAT WARNING STARTING EARLY THIS AFTN. HEAT WARNING WILL LIKELY BECOME NECESSARY FOR REMAINDER OF WI COUNTIES BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. BUILDING OF MASSIVE 50H RIDGEACROSS UPPER MIDWEST WILL GUARANTEE HEAT WARNINGS LASTING INTOWEDNESDAY EVENING."